Cops make explosive discovery at abandoned house

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — A hand grenade, two handguns and hundreds of ‘live’ bullets were among the cache of ammunition discovered by the police at an abandoned double-storey house in Bukit Mertajam in Penang yesterday.

Stashed in the headboard of a bed in a room on the first floor, the explosive discovery consisted of a US-made M61 grenade, a Smith & Wesson revolver, a homemade handgun, and also two silencers.

“The contingent bomb squad had to be called in and have since removed the munitions, which will be detonated on Tuesday,” said Seberang Prai Tengah district police chief Assistant Commissioner Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abd Hamid.

He said that 349 ‘live’ bullets were found in the headboard, some loose and others packaged in boxes.

The array of bullets, most of which were .38mm, were labelled with THAI ARM and PMC wording, and found together with gun magazines, bullet shells, holsters, a laser pointer, and even a Glock semi-automatic firearm manual.

Nik Ros Azhan said a 42-year-old man with 16 prior records for drug-related offences was the prime suspect, with efforts to track him down already underway.

“This happens to be the second time this house was raided, after a narcotics bust here last December.

“We visited the unit for the second time with the owner and made the recent discovery,” he said in a statement.

Nik Ros Azhan explained the first raid had been conducted after the owner complained of his tenant abandoning the property for at least six months, and that he had found some dubious items in the house.

He explained how in the first raid, some 20,470 ecstasy pills along with several bottles said to contain chemicals were seized from the abandoned house.

Nik Ros Azhan said the 5.5kg of ecstasy seized had an estimated street value of RM716,450.